Gridlock Quotes

The most fatal of all neutralities is that which results not from choice, but from irresolution.

Federal governments and even state governments within countries have basically been immobilized by conflicting interests, by conflicting views of what science is, and the inability to lead. They are immobilized because they don’t want to take tough votes and alienate half of the constituency.

I wouldn’t be too serious about bipartisanship. It’s a great myth that ought to be fostered. And don’t bring too damn much scholarship to bear on it. You’ll prove it out of existence if you’re not careful.

Congress is almost totally dysfunctional right now. All we've done this year and my first year in the Senate ... is barely keep the doors open.

Everywhere I go - from Main Street to Wall Street - people ask, 'What's happened to our political system? Why can't Washington folks work together?'

Political paralysis and partisanship are sabotaging American power.

Washington isn't utterly dysfunctional.

You know how it is: when you politicize things, it is not the best ingredient to get things done.

In our political system it’s easier to block action than to act.

The public good is being compromised in the conflicts between our rival political parties.

If you're not comfortable with delay, frustration and impatience, get out of the Senate. It's the nature of the institution, but I think we've taken it to an art form.

I mean, the country is deeply divided. There is 35 percent of the people who are Tea Partiers or more in some of those states. So it's probably going to be a difficult year, but there's nothing that I think anyone can do about it.

Politics is broken.

I worked on Capitol Hill for five years, and I saw how things work and how they do not. I saw the partisanship, the gridlock, the pettiness, and the corruption.

A healthy degree of party unity among Democrats and Republicans has deteriorated into bitter partisan warfare.

Americans hate traffic jams and also dislike power-hungry political figures.

Jefferson, Madison and Washington could not survive in today’s political environment.

There is nothing wrong with our country, there is something wrong with our politics…

Partisanship particularly increased after the 1994 elections and then the appearance of the first unified Republican government since the 1950s.

The middle in Congress is gone now. That is where we got most things done.

I like Obama, but I understand that his hands are tied, the way Congress is reacting. It's just partisan politics everywhere, and don't know how we going to get things done in the future without compromising a little bit.

Life in LA is not lying in the sun for months. It is having a 4pm meeting and leaving at noon to sit in traffic for four hours. It's not glam.

Assuming either the Left Wing or the Right Wing gained control of the country, it would probably fly around in circles.

Things have gotten so nasty in Washington.

A divided government doesn't have to be a death blow to foreign policy.